Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
One thing I can count on almost every year is a decent elderberry harvest. They don't seem to be affected by weather patterns, too hot, too dry, too wet, too cold .... they just produce. Every year I consistently get 10-20 lbs of raw elderberries once de-stemmed.
I have many videos on how I grow, harvest, process, and use elderberries in recipes. Raw, dehydrated, canned, juiced, frozen .... its all there. So many I created its own playlist here: youtube.com/watch?v=VWmyoyzIsvo&list=PLtuxCWv2q-8XimvvPACJ4KF2haU9RSwaa
I normally always make elderberry jam and I use that on pancakes, waffles, ice cream primarily instead of maple syrup or other store bought toppings. I also make elderberry syrup (but I don't use it for colds, I don't get colds or the flu ... been that way my entire life instead I get major things like cancer lol). When I have a bumper crop, I also dehydrate elderberries. This video shows how I do that. Elderberries does have some medicinal uses, you can research that on your own and it is very easy to make an elderberry tincture from dried or raw elderberries.
Benefits of dehydrating elderberries:
1) takes up way less storage space vs canning or freezing
2) can be stored in a cupboard for longer than 1 year as whole dehydrated berries or berry powder for use in recipes and tinctures
3) easier than making jam or ice cream (less hands on time but longer wait to finish dehydrating)
4) whole dehydrated berries can be reconstituted with water
Don't forget to check out my other elderberry videos full of tips, tricks, and recipes
The nesco fd-80 dehydrator I've had for around 12 years, its dehydrated all kinds of vegetables, berries, fruits over the years. Its another one of those kitchen products I originally bought the cheapest I could find and would later upgrade if I used it a lot and it broke down, except ... just like my oster breadmaker, it keeps going and going and going.
I don't own a freeze dryer mostly because no matter which brand you consider, there are a lot of negative videos for all of them and they are uber expensive so that means high risk to me right now. Maybe some day technology will catch up, they improve in reliability, and I will buy one but not while its the latest and greatest technology lol
The nesco dehydrator I can recommend ..... its reliable. Its maybe not the best, the biggest, or highest reviews but it does what I need it to do every time I need it to do what it does. Lets face it, if you have 2 or more machines dehydrating at the same temperature .... which one wins? They both win, they both get the job done in about the same amount of time. If this one ever goes bad, I will probably just replace it with another one of the same brand and model or style unless they come out with a newer improved version of it.....or maybe get a freeze dryer, time will tell (I will pretty much always have a dehydrator for 1 simple reason, deer jerky! You can't make deer jerky in a freeze dryer and I don't want to tie up my oven for hours and hours and hours at a time lol). Also, the nesco is easy to clean by simply putting the trays, screens, fruit roll-ups in a dishwasher and all the berry stains come right out.
dehydrator (comes with 4 trays) - amzn.to/4oRtJL3
extra trays - amzn.to/3UNfERc
screens for berries/herbs - amzn.to/47HgFSs
fruit rollup screens - amzn.to/4lChkb3
One thing I can count on almost every year is a decent elderberry harvest. They don't seem to be affected by weather patterns, too hot, too dry, too wet, too cold .... they just produce. Every year I consistently get 10-20 lbs of raw elderberries once de-stemmed.
I have many videos on how I grow, harvest, process, and use elderberries in recipes. Raw, dehydrated, canned, juiced, frozen .... its all there. So many I created its own playlist here: youtube.com/watch?v=VWmyoyzIsvo&list=PLtuxCWv2q-8XimvvPACJ4KF2haU9RSwaa
I normally always make elderberry jam and I use that on pancakes, waffles, ice cream primarily instead of maple syrup or other store bought toppings. I also make elderberry syrup (but I don't use it for colds, I don't get colds or the flu ... been that way my entire life instead I get major things like cancer lol). When I have a bumper crop, I also dehydrate elderberries. This video shows how I do that. Elderberries does have some medicinal uses, you can research that on your own and it is very easy to make an elderberry tincture from dried or raw elderberries.
Benefits of dehydrating elderberries:
1) takes up way less storage space vs canning or freezing
2) can be stored in a cupboard for longer than 1 year as whole dehydrated berries or berry powder for use in recipes and tinctures
3) easier than making jam or ice cream (less hands on time but longer wait to finish dehydrating)
4) whole dehydrated berries can be reconstituted with water
Don't forget to check out my other elderberry videos full of tips, tricks, and recipes
The nesco fd-80 dehydrator I've had for around 12 years, its dehydrated all kinds of vegetables, berries, fruits over the years. Its another one of those kitchen products I originally bought the cheapest I could find and would later upgrade if I used it a lot and it broke down, except ... just like my oster breadmaker, it keeps going and going and going.
I don't own a freeze dryer mostly because no matter which brand you consider, there are a lot of negative videos for all of them and they are uber expensive so that means high risk to me right now. Maybe some day technology will catch up, they improve in reliability, and I will buy one but not while its the latest and greatest technology lol
The nesco dehydrator I can recommend ..... its reliable. Its maybe not the best, the biggest, or highest reviews but it does what I need it to do every time I need it to do what it does. Lets face it, if you have 2 or more machines dehydrating at the same temperature .... which one wins? They both win, they both get the job done in about the same amount of time. If this one ever goes bad, I will probably just replace it with another one of the same brand and model or style unless they come out with a newer improved version of it.....or maybe get a freeze dryer, time will tell (I will pretty much always have a dehydrator for 1 simple reason, deer jerky! You can't make deer jerky in a freeze dryer and I don't want to tie up my oven for hours and hours and hours at a time lol). Also, the nesco is easy to clean by simply putting the trays, screens, fruit roll-ups in a dishwasher and all the berry stains come right out.
dehydrator (comes with 4 trays) - amzn.to/4oRtJL3
extra trays - amzn.to/3UNfERc
screens for berries/herbs - amzn.to/47HgFSs
fruit rollup screens - amzn.to/4lChkb3
